


Always Safe and Warm

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Cold Weather, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fandom Stocking 2018, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Kamar-Taj (Marvel), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 20:22:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17372672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Stephen strange is enlisted to help Tony Stark after the events of IW and beyond.





	Always Safe and Warm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fluffypanda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluffypanda/gifts).



> I hope this is something you enjoy - I tried to include a few of your likes into it.

Always Safe and Warm 

*

_Not a word was spoke between us there was little risk involved_  
 _Everything up to that point had been left unresolved_  
 _Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm_  
 _"Come in," she said,_  
 _"I'll give you shelter from the storm."_  
~Bob Dylan 

*

Stephen Strange looked at Stark’s medical file. Other than the mess his chest was in, there was nothing wrong with him. He heard through Tony’s friends that he was not himself. He smiled a bit sadly. None of them were the same after their world had ended and been remade. No one got out unscathed. 

Not Tony Stark. 

Not him. 

Rogers had called him. So had the Romanov woman. He paid more attention when Banner called. He knew Banner and Stark were good friends and Banner was actually a doctor, too. 

“He can’t seem to shake it off. I think the PTSD from all his trauma, going all the way back to Afghanistan, has finally caught up with him.”

“I’m not sure what you want me to do.” 

“You remade yourself after your life imploded. Help him remake himself, Strange.”

“How do you know he’ll even listen to me?”

“We’re making a bet with him that he can’t train under you for three months.”

“Did you think to ask me first?” Strange was getting a bit worried that this was going to be something he really didn’t want to get roped into. 

“I’m asking now.”

“All right. Tell him all he need bring are clothes. He won’t need all that damned tech he carries around all the time.” 

“Not sure we can get him to do that.”

“That’s my condition… or that he at least not have his FRIDAY do all the work for him. I’ll kick him out if he does.”

“Done. I’ll have him there tomorrow.” 

After the call, Strange wondered why the hell he’d agreed to such a thing. He liked Stark, though. He enjoyed his sharp wit and sarcasm, liked the things he said about magic. He was a lot like Stephen had been once. 

Before he was broken completely and remade. 

He hoped that he could help Stark remake himself. 

*

Stark showed up at the Sanctum the next morning at 11 am. Wong greeted him.

“Where’s Strange? I’m ready for him to hocus pocus me and ‘fix’ me so I can get back to work.” 

“Dr. Strange is waiting for you in the parlor.” Wong kept his smile under control as he led Stark to the parlor, which was in Kamar-Taj. They’d stepped through a portal. 

“What the fu -”

“Hello, Stark. I thought we could work better here. We are in Kathmandu, if you must know.”

“I can’t run off like this.” 

“You didn’t. Sit. Have some tea.”

Tony looked disgruntled rather than angry. Strange smiled. “They are worried about you. I promised I’d try to help.”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t eat, sleep… from what else I gather you don’t work or anything else either. What _do_ you do, Tony?” Stephen leaned forward in his seat. 

“It seems so useless. Nothing we do is of consequence, is it?” 

“Isn’t it? You helped save the world several times. Was that of no consequence?” 

“If I hadn’t, someone else would have. I left people who loved me to suffer. I almost got Peter killed.”

Strange reached across the table to touch his scarred and trembling hands to Tony’s, knowing that Stark did not like to touch other people’s hands. Tony didn’t pull back, didn’t react when Stephen placed his hands over the top of Tony’s and just held them. 

“What do you feel?” Strange asked him. 

“Sometimes, nothing. Not anger, fear, hate, nothing. Other times, I’m so scared that I can’t move.”

“And?” 

“And what?” 

“And what else do you feel?” 

“Rage,” Tony said, quietly. “I feel rage so deeply that it scares me.”

“What do you want to feel?” 

“I’d like to be Tony Stark again.”

Strange squeezed the hands he still held. “Maybe we can find him somewhere.” 

That evening, they began his training. Strange talked to Tony of ‘magic’ and what it really was. Tony was a little skeptical, but he was also tired of his life as it was, so he went along. 

After they had their first lessons, Strange showed Stark his room and went to his own. 

He sat, he meditated and he had a realization. For the first time in a long time, he wanted some kind of connection to another person. When he’d touched Stark’s hands, he’d realized that it had been a long time since he’d touched anyone at all. Stark was here to get help, not to help him, though. 

Breakfast was quiet, some tea and hot cereal with some fruit and berries. Strange watched Stark eat, not saying anything, waiting for Stark to speak.

“So can we get to this magical cure already? I feel unprotected without FRIDAY or any of my other things.”

“Your suit? Can’t you call it with the thing in your chest?” 

“Yeah, but I can’t be him anymore. He’s retired.”

“He or you?”

“Both.”

“Is that what you want?” 

“Yes – no – I don’t know for sure.”

When they’d finished with breakfast, Strange took him to the courtyard where he’d learned how to use magic. He showed Tony how to do it, not pressuring him to try. He schooled him on mirror dimensions and took him to a beach that appeared to be paradise on earth then back to the courtyard. 

He told Tony all about himself, something he seldom shared with anyone at all. He told him of the Ancient One and Dormammu, of Christine and of the accident. Tony held his hands and looked at all the scars on them. Strange liked that Tony expressed no sympathy or offered any apologies for what life had done to him. Those things had no real purpose even when they were heartfelt. Sometimes they were even a hindrance, as they gave a person an excuse to do nothing but wallow in their own misfortune. 

Life went on, with or without him. 

Tony went along with the training, some days seeming to be progressing and understanding and others, seeming to be going along just so he could get back home to where he wanted to be. Strange struggled on the days that Stark was tolerant and distant. 

He also knew that he was becoming attached to Stark, beginning to enjoy having him around. Now and again, he saw the snarky asshole he met when he sought him out the day Thanos attacked. He found he liked that man a lot. 

“So do you think after I learn magic, Iron Man can just pop all over without having to fly?”

Strange laughed at the visual of the metal suited hero stepping through a ring of magic fire. “You’d certainly look a little scarier than me and my cape.” 

“I don’t know about that. When you popped up in front of me and Pepper, I was pretty frightened.” 

“Tell me, Strange, if you knew then what you know now, would you change anything, do any of it different?” 

“I don’t think so. I don’t see any way it could play out in which we could have avoided what happened.”

Stark nodded. 

“She left me.”

Strange wasn’t sure what he meant at first. 

“Pepper. She left me when I got back. She said it hurt too much to be with me, that she couldn’t live with a man who insisted on saving the world at the risk of his own life as easily as I did.”

“How do you feel about it?” 

“Relieved. I don’t want to cause her pain. I do love her. Just not enough, apparently.” 

“Not enough?”

“She says I need to have the adoration of everyone, thus the need for Iron Man.” 

“Is she right?” 

“Once, not now. I just want to feel something. Even pain and rage are better than the days I feel nothing.”

“How do you deal with the pain and rage?”

“I am nasty to one and all, even my friends, even me. Especially me.” 

“I can tell you that you need to find your own meaning, but I can’t give you meaning. I found mine here. I didn’t want it, well, I did but not what I found. I thought I wanted my old life back, but my destiny was another life all together. I don’t know if you want your old life back or a completely new one. That’s for you to find out.”

“You sound very wise and mystic, Strange, like a fucking guru.” Yes! There he was. Tony Stark.

“Maybe I am one. You take away from here what you want to.”

“I’d like a good strong pot of coffee and some specs on this mirror dimension so I could figure out how it’s constructed.”

Strange laughed. “Ever the engineer, huh?” 

The both knew this was an improvement, but neither was going to speak of it.

“It has to be some kind of science.” 

“It is. I simply have no idea how it’s made. I only understand how to use it.”

“There has to be a way,” Stark said and Strange couldn’t argue. 

As long as Stark wanted to talk about engineering, Strange let him, keeping up with most of it. It was the most interest Stark had shown in anything since they’d come here. 

That evening, Strange gave him a bag of fine Columbian coffee and a press to make it in. While Stark had been busy with taking a look at one of their power generators, Strange had used his Ring and grabbed the coffee and the press. 

“I thought a little luxury from home might be appreciated,” he told Tony. 

Stark said little but immediately made coffee and offered Strange the first cup. It was strong, just as he’d expected. Strange nodded in appreciation. 

Tony did seem more himself though there were still days he didn’t talk and days he was angry all day. Strange acted no different on those days either. The days and weeks had passed into a month, then several months. 

Strange was feeling more like himself, too, oddly enough. He imagined Wong would do a great deal of eye-rolling if he were here to hear the both of them being sarcastic and droll. 

He was also feeling an interest in Stark that was quite unintended. He chalked it up more to simple human need than any real desire for Stark, the simple fact that Stark was here and warm and breathing. They had been sequestered here for quite a while. 

He decided that for now, anyway, he’d ignore it. He was supposed to be helping Stark, not taking advantage of him. 

The bitterest cold of winter came to Kathmandu and Stark was still there. The heating system was not up to the bitter cold nights and piles of blankets and quilts did only so much to keep a human body warm. 

Stark was the one who decided to do something or at least, say something. 

“Two options here, as I see it. We go back to New York to sleep or we sleep together to stay warm. Is that what you see?” 

Stephen nodded. “I think those are the options.” 

“Much easier to just crash in New York.”

Strange nodded, not saying anything. He would allow his pupil to decide. 

“Here is where we fix me, though, isn’t it? Is there something of the mystical here or is it an illusion?” 

“I am not sure. I never have been. I think the sorcerers here imbue the magic.”

“Here it is, then. Pity you can’t imbue some heat,” he laughed. “I can take a look at the old pipes and such and see if I can offer any help.” 

Strange nodded. 

Stark went to work on the heating system, surprised to find it fairly new. The problem wasn’t the system itself but the lack of reliable electricity. Much of the electricity they used in Kamar-Taj was made by solar panels on the roof. These panels did not generate enough energy for the heat during subzero temperatures. 

It was late when the two men decided to try their body heating idea. Strange’s bed was a little larger so they chose it. Stark brought his blankets with him. 

He looked at Strange with an odd look, one that Strange hadn’t seen before. “So underwear, clothes or buck naked?” 

At his words, Strange knew what the look was. It was a predatory look. “Underwear. I don’t know you well enough for naked yet.” He smiled when he said it. 

Without further conversation, because it really was quite cold, they both removed their clothing and got under the covers rather quickly. 

“Rhodey would give me no end of hell over this,” Stark quipped as he settled under the covers, wiggling this way and that to find his niche. 

“Wong would roll his eyes at me. I’m afraid my mystical persona has little effect on him. He mostly thinks I’m full of crap.” 

“You are,” Stark supplied. 

Strange couldn’t argue.

They each sort of settled in with space between themselves, both realizing a little belatedly that the heat lay in being close, touching. 

“So… back to back, front to front, spooning, snuggling? If you were Pepper, I’d just spoon you from behind. She has a talent for ignoring things she finds inconvenient in the mornings.”

Strange laughed out loud. “You don’t think I have that capacity?” 

Stark’s reply flabbergasted him. Completely. 

“I hope the hell not.” 

Tony rolled onto his left side, facing Strange, who wiggled around so that Stark was spooning him from behind. Stark pulled him close and put an arm around him. “Cozy enough?” he asked. 

Strange knew his heart rate had increased a bit, but was damned determined not to let Stark know. He grunted. “Goodnight, Stark.” 

Strange didn’t think he’d sleep, but the warmth of the other body in the bed with him lulled him to sleep. He woke before daylight, smiled when he felt Stark’s arm still holding him close. He smiled to himself when he felt the predicted body part pressing against his backside. He’d have wiggled a bit to wake Stark and drive him crazy if he’d not needed to get up and take care of a very full bladder so badly. 

When he returned, Stark was pulling on his clothes and shivering a little in the cold. “We need to figure a way for a little more heat,” Stark said as he came into the room. 

Strange wasn’t sure if he meant it or if he meant something else altogether. 

“We do all right in the daytime with the extra fireplaces and such. We’ll be all right, Stark.”

He made his way to the kitchen, made a fire and made tea. He knew Stark would prefer coffee, but he could make all the coffee he wanted after morning tea. It seemed much more civilized somehow.

He sat down to wait for the water to heat. He had time to think. Did he really want to start something with Stark? Would it be worth it? Would it only lead to pain for them both?

He knew he needed to answer those questions for himself before he even thought about starting a – what was it? He wasn’t even sure what it would be. He didn’t do relationships. The way he treated Christine proved that. Stark didn’t seem much better at it. 

Maybe they both just needed to scratch an itch. It didn’t feel that way. Scratching an itch was all about yourself. What he was feeling toward Stark was not _just_ about himself. 

“Tea?” Stark asked. “You’d think a nice American boy would drink coffee,” he laughed and poured himself a cup of tea. He sat across from Strange. “So, did you wake up with my dick poking your ass?” 

Strange almost choked at the question, not from embarrassment but because he was laughing. 

“I did, actually,” he finally managed. 

Tony shrugged and grinned at him. “Oops.” 

They went about their day. Tony managed to make a little magic with his hands at practice. He was inordinately pleased, almost as pleased as Strange had been the first time. Tony’s was not much more impressive than Stephen’s had been, but Tony did seem a lot prouder of it. 

To celebrate, they popped into New York long enough to get a pizza and then back to the cold monastery. 

“So, are we bundling tonight again?” Tony asked. 

“We stayed warm last night, so yeah.” 

There was something different in the air though. Strange wasn’t sure what it was, but something had changed. Maybe Stark’s magic did it. Maybe it was the pizza. Maybe it was actually laughing together. But things had changed between them. 

And they both knew it. 

Strange spooned Stark, pressing his chest against Stark’s back. They both got quiet and before he drifted all the way to sleep, Stephen felt Tony take his hand and trace the scars with his fingers, touching them gently. Stephen forced himself to breathe slowly as Tony brought the scarred hand to his lips, kissing it, palm first, then tracing the scars again with little kisses. 

When he was done, he turned over to face Stephen. “You had to know this was coming,” Tony whispered. 

“Yes. I wasn’t sure you knew.” 

“They sent me here for you to fix what is broken. Is it working? Is this part of it?” Tony asked, then kissed Stephen’s cheek as he waited for an answer. 

“I think you are healing. This, whatever it is, has nothing to do with that. I think it has to do with loneliness, shared experiences, need… I – I need you right now, but you already know that,” Strange said in a voice that dropped to a throaty whisper on the last few words. 

Tony’s mouth found his and they kissed, a kiss with none of the tentativeness of usual first kisses. This kiss was raw hunger, two mouths seeking each other, tongues clashing, fighting for control as they pressed themselves close, chest to chest, hip to hip. At this moment, Stephen Strange knew that he was willing to allow Tony Stark to crawl inside his skin, if such were possible. 

Tony’s hands slid down Strange’s back to his butt and held him tight as he ground himself against Stephen. 

“Do you want this?” Tony asked him, his voice thick with arousal.

“More than air right now.” 

That was all the answer Stark needed. Strange lifted his hips for Stark to remove his underwear, which was summarily tossed across the room, joined in moments by Stark’s. He then proceeded to use his hands on Strange, caressing at first then he wrapped his hand around Strange’s length, stroking slowly, almost torturously up and down as he kissed his lips and murmured stirring obscenities against his ear, promising pleasures beyond what Strange was feeling now. Those pleasures came, too, when Stark slipped down under the covers, licking and biting a trail to the treasure he sought. 

“Please!” Strange breathed as wet heat covered him, taking him into the whirlpool of sensation that Stark’s mouth offered him. He strained against his own limitations as Tony teased and tormented him, finally offering mercy as he took him deep and didn’t stop until Stephen spilled into his mouth, biting his lip to keep from saying words he was still afraid to say to anyone. 

When Tony surfaced from beneath the blankets, Stephen kissed him, tasting himself in the kiss. Instead of his mouth, he used his scarred and slightly trembling hands to reciprocate, reducing Stark to begging before he was done with him. 

They lay in one another’s arms afterward, needing the warmth as their bodies cooled from their exertions. 

“Perhaps it’s time to go back to New York,” Tony said as Strange was drifting into sleep. The statement woke him completely. 

“Oh?”

“You know as well as I do that I will never be a sorcerer. That is your bailiwick. You taught me magic though. You offered a glimmer of hope after the events of late.”

Stephen couldn’t argue with that. They both had needed to see magic after the ordeal they’d gone through. They’d needed the other part, human contact, affection, offered without any baggage or past to go with it. 

Tony kissed his cheek. “You’re only a few blocks away, too. I think we may both need some reminders now and again to keep up our progress.”

Strange rolled him onto his back and began kissing his mouth again. “I think I need a reminder now, Tony Stark. You good with that?” 

Tony demonstrated his agreement rather than speaking.


End file.
